Finding Memories
by Rambling Drabble
Summary: Mommy and Daddy are smiling and waiting. They're waiting for... Oh! I remember! I close my eyes like Daddy showed me, and say... um... um...
1. Dory

Disney owns _Finding Nemo_ and _Finding Dory_.

* * *

Tips for reading:

1\. Read however you'd like, _if_ you'd like. The choice is _always_ yours.  
2\. I believe putting yourself in Dory's shoes will make the choice to read much easier.  
3\. I started writing this after watching the opening scene to _Finding Dory._ I believe the best way to read the first chapter in particular is to re-watch that same scene. It's about 2 minutes long.

* * *

"Hi. I'm Dory. I suffer from short term me-memory loss."

Mommy and Daddy start clapping now. They're still smiling. Does that mean they're happy?

Mommy's head is going up and down now. "Yes!"

And now Daddy's eyes are bigger. "That's _exactly_ what you'd say."

So I said the right thing? If Daddy and Mommy are happy, I said the Right Thing!

Hi.

I'm Dory.

I suffer from short term memory loss.

Hi. I'm Dory. I suffer from short term memory loss. Hi, I'm Dory, I suffer from short term memory loss. HiI'mDoryIsufferfrom-

Mommy's back again! "Okay, okay, we'll pretend to be the other kids now."

Mommy and Daddy grab hands and turn around and now Daddy _clears his throat_ , but Mommy talks first and she says "HiDory!" and now it's Daddy's turn.

"A _HOOOOY_ theeeere!"

Daddy's singing sounds silly!

Daddy's eyes are big again. "Do you want to play hide and seek?"

Play?

"Okay! I love play-"

" _We'll_ hide," Daddy says, "and _you_ count, and come find us!"

"Okay Daddy!"

"No, no, not Daddy. _I'm_ the _nice_ fish who wants to be your friend!"

Now Daddy's the _Nice Fish_ who wants to _Be My Friend_!

"Okay?"

"Okay, Daddy!" Daddy is my _best_ friend.

"No-"

"I'm hidiiiing" Mommy sings behind the pink thingy.

Daddy smiles again and turns me around. "Now count to ten."

I close my Eyes like He showed me and Count "One, Two. Three..."

What comes after three?

"Um, Four…"

What comes after four?

" _Ummmmm_ …"

Sand?

"I like sand. Sand is squishy." It bounces when I touch it and goes up…

Up where people are playing! "Mommy, can I go play with Them?" They're laughing and flipping and swimming and they're having fun…

" _Cupcake!_ " Daddy pulls me away from Them. " _Undertow_ , Sweetie."

Undertow?

"Remember Honey," says Mommy. "We have to stay away from the undertow."

Stay away from where the... the _others_ are Playing? But I wanted to Play with them...

"Okay, sweetheart, what about that rhyme we learned? We see the undertow and we say,"

"Let's go." Go where the fun is.

" _No_ , no. It's _heck no_ , okay? Let's try it again. We see the undertow and we say…"

"There's the _under_ tow! There's the und"er"tow, there's the und"ertow, there's the bouncy undertow and we're leaving the undertow…

Why do Mommy and Daddy look so worried?

Uh, oh… "Did I forget again?"

Daddy says " _No_ , no," and Mommy says "No," and "no;" and "Sweetie, it's okay;" and "No biggie, cupcake."

No biggie? But...

"What if I forget _you_?" And, what if...

"Would you ever forget me?"

"Oh Cupcake, _no_."

"We will _never_ forget you, Dory, and we know you'll never forget us."

Mommy and Daddy will _never_ forget me. I'll never forget them.


	2. Shells

"And _there_ we go," says Daddy. "Now, if you ever get lost, Dory,"

"You just follow the shells." Mommy points at…

"Hey look, shells!" There's one, and there's another one, and there's another one. This is fun! One shell, two shells, three shells, and my house, and… "Hey! I live there."

"Yes," Daddy chuckles. "Yes indeed. Now, do you think you could help me, Dory?"

"Sure!" I like helping Daddy. "How?"

"I want you to find me another shell. Can you do that?"

"Okay!" FindDaddyanothershellfindDaddyanothershellfindDaddyanother-

"Sweetie, sweetie-"

"Oh, watch out, Kelpcake!" Daddy grabs me and pulls me backwards.

"Careful," Mommy adds.

Careful about what? I don't see any… "Oh."

A big flat fish swims in front of us. "Oh ho, watch where you're goin'."

Daddy is still holding me, and he still looks worried.

I know why. "I'm sorry Daddy."

He lets go of me.

"I'm sorry I can't remember right."

"Sweetie," Mommy says, and now _she's_ holding me. Her eyes are big. "Sweetie, you don't need to be sorry. You know what you need to do? Just… keep swimming."

" _Yeah_ ," Daddy agrees.

"And I bet you can remember that because, we're just… we're gonna… um…"

Is Mommy forgetting too?

"We're gonna sing a song about it."

Oh! That's a good idea! I guess Mom _didn't_ forget.

"Just keep s _wim_ ming  
Just Keep S _wim_ ming  
Just Keep Swimming, Swimming, Swimming."

Now Mommy and Daddy swim around me in circles. They're so pretty… and so is Mommy's singing.

"What do we do?  
We Swim, S _wi_ m, _Swim!_ "

"S-swim," I sing, "swim," with Mommy, "swim…"

" _Swimm_ ing," Mommy sings, " _SWIMMing_ ," even _prettier_ , " _swimm_ ing…"

Daddy starts singing, too. "Swim, _swim_ , swim…"

Mommy and Daddy are singing around me.

I love singing. "Just keep swimming…"

Mommy and Daddy are swimming around me.

I love swimming. "Just jeep swimming…"

Singing and swimming. I love both of them.

Mommy and Daddy are still swimming and singing "Just Keep Swimming".

Mommy and Daddy. I love both of _Them_.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

"Hey look, _shells_."

Oh _hey_ , there's Daddy!

And here's a shell. And…

I know! "Daddy, here's a shell for you."

"Ooh, that's _great_ , Dory."

Now it's _his_.

Daddy smiles. "You found another one."

 _Another_ one? "I did?"

"Oh yes you did," says Mommy. "You're getting good at this Dory."

Now Daddy is putting something down in the sand. It's a...

"Hey look, shells!" There's Daddy's shell… and there's another shell and _another_ one, and there's my house, and… "Hey, I live there!"

Daddy smiles again. "Yes, yes indeed!"

"I _like_ shells."

"That's _right_ , Dear," Mommy laughs. "Do you think you could find me _another_ shell?" Mommy comes closer and she's whispering now. "Purple ones are my _favorite_."

 _Oh_ , so it's a _secret_ …

Why is _that_ a secret? Mommy is so silly.

"Okay Mommy."

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Mommy wants a purple shell. I can find Mommy a purple shell. Shells are in the sand…

Sand is down…

"Oh look, sand! I like sand. Sand is-"

 **" _COME WITH US-"_**

"Ah!"

 **" _-AS WE EXPLORE-_ "**

"Oh no!"

 **" _-THE MYSTERIOUS WORLD-_ "**

"What-?"

 **" _-OF THE OPEN OCEAN._ "**

...

What happened?

"Hel _lo?_ "

 **" _HELLO_ "**

"Oh! Hi there!"

 **" _I'm Sigourney Weaver._ "**

Sig… sig-oar-nee wee-ver?

"Hi Sigorni Weever!"

 **" _Won't you please join us_ ,"**

Join?

"I love joining! What-"

 **" _In our important mission."_**

Mission?

"What Mi-?"

 **" _It is our hope-_ "**

Hope?

 **"- _that every animal-_ "**

Animal?

 **"- _we rescue-_ "**

 _Rescue?_

 **"- _and care for-"_**

 _Care for?_

 ** _"-will eventually come home-"_**

 _Home?_

 **" _\- to where they belong._ "**

 _Belong?_

" _DORY!_ "

 _Dory?_ Wait… not _Dory_ …

" _THE UNDERTOW!_ "

Daddy!

" _Gotcha!_ "

Got… me? I guess so... because he's holding me... "Daddy?"

He's breathing hard.

"Why-"

"Don't _ever_ do _that_ again, Dory!"

Oh no. Daddy's mad at me. "Do… do what?"

Daddy gasps. "Do… don't you remember?"

"No…"

"You were swimming fast, Dory. _Really_ fast."

"I was?"

"Yes, you _were_."

Oh… "I'm sorry, Daddy."

Daddy sighs. It's a big and easy sigh.

"Why were you swimming so _fast_ , Dory? You could have _hurt_ yourself, or _worse_!"

"I… I could hurt myself?"

" _Or worse!_ " Daddy shouted at me. "Now don't you go swimming off like that again, okay Dory?"

No swimming without Daddy?

"Okay Daddy."

"Now let's go." Daddy holds my hand and we start swimming.

"Where are we going?"

"We're going back to your Mother."

To Mommy? But I can't go back until… until…

"Wait!" Now _I_ pull _Daddy's_ hand.

Daddy turns around. " _What?!_ " he shouted at me again.

"Um… um… I think I remembered something…"

"You _did_?" Daddy gasps. "What did you remember?" Now Daddy's _not_ mad.

What… what _did_ I remember? Um… Um…

"Was it the Undertow?" Daddy asks.

That doesn't sound right. "No, not _that_."

"Well then what _was_ it?"

"Um… it was something…"

" _Yes?_ "

"Something… um, something you-"

"Something I _said_?"

 _That_ sounds right! "Yes!"

" _What was it?_ "

"Um, it was, it was something you said about, um, about going somewhere."

"Going somewhere?" Daddy's eyes are big now and he's breathing fast again, but in a good way. "Going _where_?"

"Going-"

"Going _home?_ "

That's not right. "No, not home. You said we were going back to-"

"To your Mother!"

That sounds right again! "Yes!"

"That's right, Dory!" Daddy picks me up and swings me around. "I _did_ say that! How did you remember that?"

"I remembered because… because… um…"

" _Yes?_ "

"Because… I remembered because we have to wait. I think." Hey! It's getting easier to remember now.

Daddy puts me down. "Why do we have to wait?"

"Because Mommy wanted me to get something."

Daddy frowned a little. But not much. "What did she want _you_ to get?"

Now it's hard to remember again. "Um… I think it was… something in the sand…"

"A shell?" asks Daddy.

"Yes!"

"Your Mother wants _another_ shell? Well… I guess we can get her a shell before we go back." Daddy holds my hand and takes to the sand. He looks around and stops above a _big_ white shell. "What about _that_ one?"

"Okay!"

"Well, go get it, Kelpcake."

"Okay!"

Daddy lets go of my hand so I swim down and… and…

Wait. It's heavy. I'm pulling but... but... I can't do it. "There's no other _way_ …"

"Now, now…"

"Oh, Dear." Hey, that was Mommy! Mommy's here now!

"Don't panic," Daddy says.

"It's okay," says Mommy. "You know, not everything in life is easy to do. Isn't that right, Charlie?"

" _Yeah_ , your mother's right. When something's too hard, Dory, you should just give up."

" _Charlie!_ " Mommy looks upset at Daddy.

"A joke," Daddy says. "I'm kidding."

Now Mommy's not upset anymore.

"Just a joke. A joke…" Daddy puts his tail under the shell and flips it over. "Uh, Caution! Uh, Joker at work."

Hey! Now the shell's flipped over.

Hey! Now I'm on top of the shell.

Hey! Now I'm in front of my house.

"See, Kelpcake? There's _always_ another way."

Daddy's right. I _love_ Daddy. "Thank you, Daddy."

Daddy hugs me. I hug him.

 _We Hug Each Other._


End file.
